Never Let Go
by UmbraIntuneric
Summary: Love found and lost, can it survive through the ages? Sesshoumaru/Kagome
1. Prologue

_**I do not own Inuyasha or the characters contained therein, I also do not own the song used for this story. It is Never Let Go by Josh Groban. This disclaimer is for all the following chapters of this story and all the following lyrics. Thank you for reading. Review, Thank you Umbra Intuneric**_

 **Never Let Go**

 **Prologue**

" **I can't understand it, the search for an answer is met with a darker day, and we have been handed these moments flower, but I am reassured there is another way." From Never Let Go By Josh Groben.**

Five years ago, damn time flies she thought as she climbed out the well again. The well that was dying more and more each time she used it. She knew that this was more than likely her last time here in the past. She didn't think that she could leave them. One of them would be much more painful than the others. A lot of traveling back and forth through the well, between the past and present, people didn't know who she was at home anymore, she was strong and confident. Her power which had to be hidden at times was allowed to ease out of the walls she put around it. Her mother acted like she was all right with all of the changes that had happened to her, but her mother wasn't. no one was really comfortable around her now that she had grown up. She didn't let it affect her though anymore she felt alone other than when she leapt through the magical portal. That allowed her to be herself wile she was there. Her life would never be the same. She was in college studying for her doctorate in religions and mythology and her masters in history. She didn't want to loose them if she went back through the well and could never return to them, meaning her two brothers, her two sisters, and her son, not to mention the real reason that she returned to this time.

He knew that he was the reason she always returned, and she was the reason that he had stayed so close to the others for so long. Her didn't mind them so much now but still the did bother him a little. She knew that if the well stopped working on her side that her heart would break to pieces. She knew that she loved him, he felt for her deeply but she wasn't sure what it was that he felt for her. They were trying to find a way to keep the well open so that she could keep coming back to see him everything they had come up with to this point had failed. She knew that their time together was drawing to a close. She didn't want to loose him and the future they could have together but she was sure that he wouldn't allow her to stay here with him.

She sat down on the worn ancient wood of the well. She wanted to remember her time here. Granted in the grand scheme of history her ten years here didn't change anything but for her it had changed her whole life. Falling into the well at the age of sixteen had changed everything about her. She had met Inuyasha first then his brother,, then there was her son, her brother Miroku and her sister Sango. They had their fights and bad times but they had good ones too. She smiled as she remembered nights filled with laughter around a campfire. Five years in to her journey here. Inuyasha's brother, Sesshoumaru joined them so that they could get rid of Naraku. It had been after the incident with So'unga where the brothers learned the true power of the fangs their father had given them.

The night that he appeared quite literally out of the sky in front of her and said that he wanted to talk to her had taken her by surprise and robbed her of the ability to both breathe and speak. She simply stared at him for a few minutes taking in the ethereal sight in front of her. He simply watched her in silence, once regained her ability to speak they talked long into the night. He followed her back to the others but didn't speak to them for days. He stayed at a slight distance from them but they as in he and she continued to talk to each other at night teaching each other. He taught her how to battle while she taught him about the future. She learned about him and he about her. Their strange friendship caused friction in the group but they came to understand what was going on between them. They told her as long as she was happy that they would deal with it for her. It didn't take Naraku long to start attacking them all the time. It was during one of those battles that she begun to rethink her feelings for him, she watched him take a tentacle in his shoulder for her son. She moved like lightning to his side shielding him from the attacks that never seemed to stop once he regained his focus they moved and attacked together with Inuyasha at their side and finally defeated the hanyou that had taken so much from so many in the time that he had been around. After the battle she moved to him and asked to be allowed to heal him, he refused her. She had known that he would but had hoped that this one time his pride would lose to the fact that he was poisoned. She hid her pain and moved to the others to heal them. It was then that she noticed that Inuyasha and Sango were caring for each other. Miroku was being treated by Kagura, strange but as long as they were happy that was all that mattered to her. She left the area with the full jewel knowing that she might have to fight again tonight but right then she had only wanted to be alone.

He came to her then alone and bleeding still. He sat beside her as he had done many times before. She turned and placed her hand on his shoulder healing him completely that night. He didn't say a word to her when she left him either she didn't expect him to. Later that night she asked Sango about having Kirara take her to the well so that she could tell her mother that both the jewel and Naraku were finished. Sango was about to tell her one way or the other when a long strong but delicate looking hand on her shoulder turned her attention elsewhere. He took her home, to the well, that night he told her then that he still wanted to be around her.

They had continued to see each other every night that she returned to the past. As more time passed he allowed her to fight with him to protect his lands. He watched over her at night and held her when she had nightmares, comforting her. They never really talked about the future until about two years ago when they both noticed the change in the well. They talked about how to fix it but even now two years later the magic was almost gone, she was sure that she would get home but was certain that once she did she wouldn't be able to return. She didn't want to lose this place and the people that she loved here but was sure that she would when she went to her time once again. She didn't want to think about loosing them to the tides of time she had known it would happen sooner or later but they were so much a part of her now that to think of them lost from her life hurt like hell. She didn't know anything that would stop the changes that were about to occur.

She had kept journals of her time here from the beginning but she knew that even reading them and looking at the pictures of them would bring them to her again once this trip was over. She would never be able to hold her son again, laugh at Inuyasha and Sango who were both hanyou now as they chased their kids. She wouldn't get to watch Kagura and Miroku as they also hanyou children learned to fly. She wouldn't get to see her son grow up into an adult youkai, or watch Rin as she lived as a youkai with Sesshoumaru. She was going to loose all of them. Five hundred years was a long time for things like her to be remembered. No matter how much they had been through that was just too long to expect them to remember her. She would always remember them and all of the times that they had shared; life was too short for her, she had to remember. They had taught her about life, they had allowed her to grow in front of them into the woman that she was now.

They had shown her how to be free of the things that others in her time couldn't live without. They had shown her that there was so much living to do in the small amount of time that they had been given. They had taught her that the loss of someone wasn't something to mourn over for years rather a reason to live even more. They had opened her innocent and naïve eyes to evil and taught her that evil though a necessary part of life wasn't something that should be allowed to flourish for long. Lessons that she had learned here were so much more than she could ever learn in her own time. On this, what she was certain to be her last, visit here she wanted them to know what they had done for her all that they had taught her. She had to make sure that they know that their time together meant so much to her and that no matter where her life in the modern era took her that she would always remember them and the time that she had spent here.

A smile found her face as she felt her son and Sesshoumaru coming toward her. No matter how things were they could always make her smile. She stood up and moved toward them, she needed to reassure herself that they were still here and that they cared about her. She began to run to them, feeling their auras grow stronger, she fought back the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. She wouldn't see them again if she went through the well, she would loose them. Her heart ached with the pain of that thought. Her tears started to fall, her steps moments ago sure and steady now staggered and blind. She stumbled as the things that she would miss flooded her minds eye.

Shippou's laughter and jokes, Sesshoumaru's gentle touch and warm deep sensual voice, Miroku and his wisdom, Sango and her complete acceptance of her, Inuyasha and his brash attitude, Kagura and Kirara and their silent strength, Rin and her always sunny out look; all of it would be taken from her the next time she fell into the well. Ten lousy years wasn't long enough, the memories would be enough to warm her. The pictures wouldn't bring her the laughter or the music of their voices. No one would be enough to fill the long silver hair, inferno golden eyes that were warm at times, gentle strong hands that were graced with lethal poisonous claws, long lean legs that walked silently through the treacherous terrain, a low voice that called to her, the passion that raged in her at the simplest touch from him would never be sated, the love that burned in her heart for him would never be told. To be so robbed of all that she wanted, no needed, was wrong. What had she done so wrong that the Kami would punish her like this? She didn't want to live as an empty shell. Every emotion that she knew was tied to someone here in the past, no this couldn't be the way that things were supposed to be! There had to be a way for her to keep coming here, she couldn't live without seeing him again.

Her nails clawed her hands as she tried so hard to contain the deep heart ripping sobs the pain of loosing them tearing her apart from the inside. This was so wrong! She felt his power caress her as he neared her, he knew that she was in pain, she clung to the feeling that his touched caused in her. She felt whole and complete, to think that this feeling would soon be yanked from her, the tears flowed more the closer that he got to her. His presence and soon his scent, this was too much for her to take she needed him with every fiber of her being she needed him.


	2. Chapter One

**Never Let Go**

 **Chapter One**

" **You don't have to close your eyes, there is room for love again, ease the pain to realize, all that love can be." Never Let Go, By Josh Groban.**

His gentle touch soothed her but her heart still ached for the time that she could only dream to have with him she couldn't face the future alone in her time. There was nothing there that could ever make her feel this complete, this happy, even though she wanted more than her next breath to stay with him forever. She wanted more than her next breath to stay with him forever. She would die here in this moment just so that she would never have to leave him. to leave him would kill her all of her would die. Her tears soaked his shirt, her blood stained the expensive white silk that he wore. Neither one of them cared. She heard a low rumble from his chest, he had told her all about the behavior of his species. That low rumble that vibrated her body was meant to soothe and calm her. She wanted it to but the pain in her heart was too much right now. She held on to him with everything that she had. She let herself almost be crushed by his embrace. she didn't want to live without the feelings that he brought to the forefront when he held her.

His heart ached for her, he knew what it was that she had been thinking about. He didn't want to lose her either but their love was five hundred years too early and he knew it. He loved her, he hadn't told her yet but he did. The pain flowing from her was enough to break the walls that he had long ago dropped for her. It hurt him to feel this pain from her. He knew that this would be her last trip through time. He had to tell her about his feelings for her, he had to give her something to hold on to. He wouldn't punish her for the love that they had found. He wanted her to have something that only he would be able to give her, his heart and his soul were all ready hers. He wanted to feel at one with her to have something of her to remember her by for the next five hundred years. In the grand scheme of his life that really wasn't that long but he knew that it would feel like forever to him to know that his life would be on hold until she came back into his life again. he knew that there was nothing that would pull him out of the pain that would haunt him for the time that she would be gone from his side. He knew that he would have to survive to thrive while she was gone from him. he was here for her here and now, he would be at her side until the moment she left through the well again.

"It is all right Kagome, I am here with you." He whispered into her ear.

"Why?"

"I don't know but don't waste the time that we have with tears. Live with me burn with me, be with me." his voice rough with restrained desire and emotion.

"It hurts so much."

"I feel it to, but live here with me. don't let the pain rob us of the happiness that we can feel together in this time that we have left," he gently pleaded.

"I can't stop thinking about it Maru, it hurts so much."

"I know Kag but for me, this one last time."

"I will try you know that I have to see the others and tell them?"

"They all ready know that this is the last time that they will see you Kag. Shippou wanted them to know so they could deal with your loss in advance. They know that this isn't your fault and have been informed that you will meet them at my palace when we arrive there."

"You mean my son did that?" she pulled from him slightly.

"Yes, but Kag, you need to know something that happened while you were gone this time, come here Shippou." A waist tall kitsune came from behind them in the trees to give them the privacy they needed.

"Yes father," answered the kitsune as he walked to his mother and father.

"father?" Asked Kagome confused as she looked between them, what Shippou called Sesshoumaru told her things had changed in the month that she had been gone from here.

"yes Kagome, father. I adopted him as we talked about last year we wanted you to know that he would be safe while you were gone from us." Sesshoumaru continued to leave his arm on her waist holding her to him.

"Shippou you want him to be your father?"

"Yes, mother, I do. He cares about me and wants to take care of me like you did for me. Rin sees me as her brother and I want to be with him. I respect him and care about him. it is all right that he is my father?"

"Of course my son, I am glad that you will be cared for." She smiled as their son ran to them. She had thought it would be Inuyasha that would have adopted him but she had wanted it to be Sesshoumaru. She loved the both of them but Sesshoumaru would be better able to deal with the hyper kit.

"my son, return to the palace and tell the others that we will be there by evening meal. I need to talk with you mother."

"All right, make sure you are father, take care of him, mom." The kit smiled as he popped himself into a large flaming orange inu and ran in the direction of the palace. Kagome waited until her son was gone to look at Sesshoumaru once again.

"What do you want to talk about Maru?" There were emotions burning in his eyes, some she knew and others that she didn't expect. He was in pain at the thought of loosing her too but he was nervous too which was nothing like him.

"Walk with me from here, I want to go somewhere that is truly private to talk to you." He answered her.

"How far?" she asked him knowing the area she was in like the back of her hand she knew that total privacy here wouldn't happen.

"Do you wish to fly?" He had a place in mind for this but he did know that it would take time to get there and it was still early morning.

"Sure, where will we go?" she asked curious.

"Does it really matter?"

"Not as long as I am with you Maru." She smiled as he created his fluffy demon cloud and flew through the sky away from where he had found her. They didn't fly long until she felt a strong barrier in front of them, she knew that it was one of his, his power flowed from it. They landed gently near a blanket that had been put down in a garden, there was a hot spring near by but she was drawn to the colors of the roses around them.

"This is so beautiful Maru." The joy was shining in her eyes.

"This is all for you. Kag I would like it if you at here on the blanket with me." his voice was a simple whisper. She moved with him to the blanket and sat down in front of him. he was being so strange she knew him better than anyone had ever thought to this simply wasn't him.

"What is it Maru?"

"Listen to what I am going to say then I will let you know why we are here, all right?"

"Ok." She watched him take a deep breath steeling himself for whatever he needed to tell her.

"It is something that happens only once in a lifetime for a youkai such as myself. I know that you understand youkai traditions for I told you about them. I hope you will comprehend the sheer magnitude of what I am about to ask you Kag. I don't want this to hurt you but knowing that you are going out of my reach for so long I want to do this with you. I have found in you all that I will ever need or want. I have found in you a chance to love again, to live again. I want to ease the ache in our hearts for the time that we must be apart. I want you to know what our love can be when I find you again, my dearest."

"Maru?" Kagome was nervous watching the serious Sesshoumaru in front of her.

"Just listen to me for now Kagome, I have to do this I have waited thinking that I would be able to find away to keep you here but I can't," he paused for a moment watching her closely, she could make or break him with her answer to his question. He prayed to all that he knew that she wouldn't deny him. "Kagome, I love you. I love you more than I ever thought possible. I want you for my own for eternity. I know that you weren't meant to be here but I am grateful that you have been. Kagome, my love, would you consent to be my mate my wife for eternity today before I loose you for five hundred years?" he asked her.

"Maru?" her voice and eyes full of her love and tears," I would love to be your mate but won't the pain of being without me for five hundred years be too much for you?"

"It would give me a reason to live the next five hundred years." He put his hand on her face gently.

"You mean that you would stay true to me for that long?" she knew that once an inuyoukai mated that no one could touch him without death following it. She knew that his inner youkai would always long for completion and he would only find it when he found her again.

"Yes my love forever," he pulled her closer to him. he wanted her and needed the feeling of wholeness that he knew would only come from being one with her physically.

"You could and would deal with the pain?" she was shocked.

"Yes Kagome."

"Then my answer is yes, Maru. I would love to be your mate to have that connection to you, to feel the love that we share burning in us." She looked deep into his eyes.

"Tell me Kag, how it is you feel I can see it but I need to hear it."

"I love you Maru I have for a while but didn't think that you would feel the same." She quietly spoke.

"Well now you know I do my mate, my love. Come here as we join into the one being that we both desire to be." He pulled her into his lap.

She pushed herself deeper into him, she needed to burn with the flames of desire that they both felt when they touched. She wanted to treasure these loving moments with him because she didn't know if she would ever see him again. she didn't want him to feel the pain for so long but knew that there was no way she could rob them of this. They both needed this connection to each other, this day would have to last him a long time. She didn't know based on what she knew in her time that she would ever see him again. they deserved this for this one time they would be all that they wanted to be even though they knew that they would have to part soon.


	3. Chapter Two

**Never Let Go**

 **Chapter Two**

" **Forced apart by time and sand, take a step and take my hand, and don't let it go, never let go." Never Let Go By Josh Groban.**

Evening falls on them as they lay still as one in the garden, neither one of them wanted to move, but both knew that they would have to move to his palace where the others were waiting on them. Kagome felt so whole being in his arms with their bodies still joined from the last round of love making that she couldn't bear to think of what would come the next night. She knew that they only had a little time left together. He didn't want to move from her, their bodies were perfectly meshes together. They were joined heart, body, mind, and soul. So joined that there was no doubt in his mind that they were meant to be. He locked the memories of their joining up in his mind so that he would never forget the woman that completed him in all ways this afternoon. Five hundred years was a long time to wait for her to return to him but he would because there would never be another for him. he would make sure that his country knew that they had a lady but he would never put her on display. She was his no one needed to know who she was. He had her mark on him, she was changing even as they lay there together, he knew that he change wouldn't be complete until he found her in the future, he needed to be around her for the change to progress. By the time she left him she would bear the markings and her body would be able to carry the child that they had created but other than the mark on her neck and the stripes that told of her new mate as well as the fangs that she now had the rest would happen once she was at his side once again. he knew that she didn't want to leave, the magic that surrounded them was so serene that to leave this place seemed like a crime.

"Kag, it is time to go to the palace."

"I don't want to." She sighed into his chest.

"I know my love, but tonight after the meal we will retire to my chambers and stay there until you must leave. For now my love we must join the others." His voice held the pain that he felt at the thought that he would be loosing her soon. He could feel the pain that burned in her at the thought of their future but the determination that she held in her heart to be waiting for him on the other side, of the distance that would separate them made him proud of her. He gently moved under her so that he could lift her as he stood. He had no doubt that she was sore but also knew he wouldn't hear a complaint. He stood slowly with her still in his arms, though their bodies no longer one, he could feel her just the same. Why did he have to loose her after only having her as his own for one blissful, happy magical night? It was wrong but nothing cold be done, she had to go home and stay this time. He picked her up and carried her to the hot spring so they could bathe, he could only hope it would ease the aching muscles he could feel from her. He lowered them in and slowly began to bathe his wife, his mate, his love. He would care for her every need for the rest of his life. He had to be prepared to care for her once he found her again. once they were finished he moved them to the shore where she truly noticed for the first time the changes she was under going.

"Maru?" She asked as she put her clothes back on.

"Yes Kag?"

"What is happening to me?" she held up her wrists to show him the markings, there were two black and silver lightning bolts.

"Your changing my love."

"Into?"

"An Inuyoukai Kagome, I should have warned you for that I am sorry." He finished tying her obi, then sliding the two fangs that he had created for her from his own into it on her hip.

"How will I hide it in my time Maru?" she was suddenly frightened of the thoughts of being demon in a place where there were none.

"I have your answer right her Kagome, hush now mate. The change won't complete itself until I find you again for now my love here are two gifts. One this ring I know in human ritual rings are given and though we are mated by youkai standards I wish to give you this. I have placed a spell on it. You only have to twist it in your fingers and think of the appearance you wish, either ningen or youkai. It will hide your scent and aura so that you are safe at all times. Second this pendant, my mate, made from a very rare stone that can never be replicated. The chain is also enchanted so that none other than I can take it from you. I will use it to find you when the time comes. If you ever miss me simply hold it in your hands, my love will come to you, until I am able." He placed both the silver ring with a marquis cut sapphire on her ring finger on the left hand and the silver chain with the deep blood red stone around her neck.

"Will I carry the mark at you lady?" she asked as she watched both gems gleam as the spells went into effect.

"You all ready do Kagome, as I carry years. Mine is here where your delicate fangs bit me and here in my markings, see the stripe of black that runs through them now. Yours my mate is the crescent of ebony on your forehead and the bite that I place on your neck. The moon will not show when the spell is in effect but the puncture wounds on your neck will." He answered calmly.

"Will I share your stripe color?"

"Yes, when I return to you, my love."

"If there are youkai in my time do I have to worry?" she moved closer to him so that they could fly to his palace.

"About coming under attack because of who you are?" no, Kagome my mark will protect you always. I am a demigod Kagome, meaning my mother was a goddess, my mother will protect you if I am not able." He lifted them on his youkai cloud to travel to his palace.

"Did you let me keep my fangs?" she asked. She could still feel them but with the spell active she didn't know if they could be seen.

"And your knew claws my mate." He smiled as they neared his palace. He had remembered that had been one of the things she had told him she wanted, claws and fangs. He pulled her tighter against him as they gently landed in the court yard, where the others waited for them

Among a mess of tears, laughter, and general peace they all ate the feast that had been placed before them. Once dinner was finished they moved to the lounge and continued to reminisce about the adventures they had shared. Sesshoumaru watched it all adding his own comments from time to time but his main focus was memorizing all that he could about his mate so that he would never forget anything about her. He hadn't told anyone but the moment that he and Kagome had touched down in the courtyard an hour glass in his chambers that he had enchanted himself had turned counting the grains of sand down that he had left with his precious pure mate. Kagome began to yawn, a sign that he needed to call it a night. He looked at the ones gathered around him and simply nodded. They each walked up to her and told her good night then left the room. Sesshoumaru then picked up his exhausted mate and silently moved to his chambers. He laid her down on the black silk covered bed and then curled up behind her, he showed her all night and most of the next day how deeply and truly he loved her. Every time she awoke he made sure that he was the first thing her eyes focused on. His love covered her flowing to her freely as they spent every moment that they had together. It was almost time for the evening meal when Kagome told him that she was hungry and needed to eat. It was then and only then that he looked at the hourglass, knowing his time with her was almost at an end.

He carried her from his large bed to the bathing chamber and bathed her once again. he knew that these last moments with her would have to last him the five hundred years that they would have to be apart. He didn't want to cause her to be in any pain he only wanted to bathe in the love and wholeness that they felt together. Once they were finished he crafted clothing for her so that she would have a constant reminder of his power and his love for her. Once she was dressed, he moved from her to take in the image of perfection that his mate presented to him. To think he would have to live without her for so long almost killed him, she must have been thinking the same thing, because she moved to him and pulled him so close to her.

"We must get ready to leave my love, your time here almost at an end. The others will meet us at the well are you ready my love?"

"I don't want to leave you my love, but I know that I have to. Lets go, I don't want you to feel the pain that I know you will but I than you for all that you have given to me." her voice was low and sincere carrying with it the pain that she felt at the thought of leaving him.

"Come, my love." He moved to the balcony of his room. They took off from the balcony and headed to the well.

The flight there was silent as they thought about all that they had been through. The time that they had spent together had been magical they didn't want it to end but in the end he knew that she would have to leave. He watched her delicate face as her features changed with her emotions. He landed in the clearing where the others had gathered. He released her from his embrace feeling the emptiness that he knew would haunt him for the next five hundred years.

The others gathered around her knowing that this would be the last time that they would be together. Each one of them had a gift to give to her, they wanted to do this for her, after all that she had done for them. Inuyasha moved to her and held out his hand holding a pair of tear drop sapphire earrings. He hugged his sister then moved back from her allowing his mate Sango to move to Kagome to give her the gift that she had. Sango moved so that she could pull the package that she had behind her back. She placed it in Kagome's hands. Kagome opened it slowly and looked inside, there she found a black and silver slayers outfit. Sango crying her black dog ears back against her head as she hugged Kagome then moved back from her so that Miroku could do the same thing. Miroku moved to Kagome slowly knowing that Sesshoumaru wouldn't mind if he got close to her but he had to watch his hands. He pulled from his robes a sutra for health and wealth and a string of pearl prayer beads with kanji engraved on them. He handed her both of those and gave her a hug then also backed off from her so that his mate could give Kagome her gift. Kagura bowed to her holding out to her a pure white feathered comb enchanted to remind Kagome of all of them. Kagome couldn't stand to see Kagura bowed before heer she reached out and pulled Kagura into her hug. Kagura was shocked that Kagome would embrace her moved from the embrace so that Shippou and Rin could jointly gift her with their presents. Shippou pulled a pointing of the whole group from behind his back and handed it to his mother, Rin then held out a silver and ruby bracelet to her mother with t his finished they hugged their mother and moved so that Kirara and Ah Un could present her with their first born kitten. Once that was finished Kagome then moved to give them their gifts. Inuyasha was given a baseball car, Sango a necklace with a silver dog pendant, Miroku a book of her poetry, Kagura a bracelet of jade, Shippou crayons that would never run out due to a spell and a coloring book, Rin was given a pearl hair barrette, but she felt bad because she didn't have anything for Ah Un or Kirara.

She moved to the well knowing that her time here was gone. The others called their goodbyes and left her and Sesshoumaru in the clearing alone. Sesshoumaru moved to his mate and held out an eternal rose, and that only grew in his garden. He then pulled her close and told her that he loved her, that he always would. Kagome handed him a crystal pendant enchanted to show him her image as he held it. Gifts given Kagome stood on the edge of the well, she said on last goodbye then moved backwards and fell. Just as she was about to vanish she reached up to him and he reached down but there was nothing to grab she was gone. He was alone for the next five hundred years.


	4. Chapter Three

**Never Let Go**

 **Chapter Three**

" **Broken once connected, we were so strong and blessed in a simple way, so don't let me go it alone, turn your head up to the sky." Never Let Go By: Josh Groban.**

Kagome looked down into the dark no longer magical depths of the well. They had done nothing wrong to deserve the pain that they were going to have to endure. He would have to be without her at his side for five hundred years that was a crime. Why couldn't she have stayed in the past with him, where her heart would forever stay. She didn't want to be here she longed to be at his side. There were so many things that she would miss out on and she didn't even know if he would survive the wars that were to be fought between then and now. Would survive the wars that were to be fought between then and now. She had given him the information that he needed but still the future for him wasn't writtin in stone. Her claws dug into her skin as she fought back the tears. She didn't want to think of him as gone but thought she knew that youkai didn't exist in her time. She had to deal with the fact that he was gone. She could feel the blood of her cuts flowing onto the ground under her but she didn't care. They had only had one night together. She lost the battle with her tears she only wanted his arms around her holding her telling her that he would never let go of her again.

She felt her mother moving around the area and knew that she would have to leave the well house. She stood and leapt from the depths of the well, it was time to move on, her mother opened the door to the well house. Kagome stood there tall and moved from her place on the opposite side of the well. Granted her mother didn't know what was going on but she didn't have to in order to give her a small measure of comfort. She let her mother hold her while thinking about all that she had lost. After a while she moved from her mother and silently they walked into the house. Kagome didn't say a word she simply went to the room that she grown up in and changed her clothes. She put her swords into her backpack with the shrinking enchantment she and Sesshoumaru had put on them. Once she was dressed, now wearing a black pair of tight jeans a black tank top with a large black over shirt and keeping the shoes that Sesshoumaru had given her she looked at herself in the mirror on the back of her closet door. She twisted the ring that he had given to her so that she could see herself as she truly was. Her hair long to her thighs as she pulled it up into a ponytail, her forehead proudly showing that she was the lady of the west. Her cheeks baring the same silver and black lightning stripes that her wrists, ribs, thighs, and ankles did. Her fangs were small but long enough for her, her claws were black with a silver lightning bolt through the center. She like her demonic appearance she decided as she once again turned the ring so that all but her fangs and claws were hidden. She moved to the backpack that she had brought with her it was time to go home. She heard what could only be a mix of a growl and a meow from the bag. She had forgotten about the animal from Kirara and Ah Un. She smiled and pulled the kit from the bag.

"Do you have a name little one?"

"Yes my lady my name is Fantomu." Said the crossbreed, as Kagome picked up the small animal. Fantomu had black fur all over the top side of her body but emerald scales covering the underside. Her large bright green eyes held her soul as they looked at each other.

"Well, Fantomu, I have to return to my home, I have some work to do when I get there. We will play this evening all right?" Kagome moved the small black kitten to her shoulder.

"All right my lady."

Kagome placed the bag on her shoulder. It was time to pick up her life and move on. She moved silently from her room through the rest of the house. She wanted to go to her own home located near the only remaining forest area in town. She didn't want to be around the well. In this place there were far too many memories she wanted the peace of her home. She didn't say a word to her mother as she walked out of her childhood home. She was a woman, the lady of the west it was time for her to get a move on and act the role that she now had. She would make her mate proud no matter if he was a live or dead. She walked the streets feeling strong and proud as they made their way to her home. It took her a little while to get there but she didn't care. Granted she could use her new speed to get there faster but she wanted the time to think before she entered her home. Once she got there she felt the barriers that she had set on it and the peace that filled the area. She entered her home and Fantomu leapt from her shoulder and began to explore the home. Kagome went to the bedroom a cross from her own which she had turned into a shrine to her friends in the feudal era.

She opened the seal on the room. She had sealed it because this was one of the few places where there were museum quality artifacts from the past. She didn't see it that way but others did. The room was dark brown wood with an oak wood floor. She walked up to the pictures on the walls that presented her with the faces of those that she called family. The first stone on the wall was Inuyasha. He was now in more way than ever before her brother. Her hand moved over the white cotton undershirt that he had let her have ages ago. The tuft of hair that had come from her brush after one of the few baths that he took. She also had from him a dagger that he and Totsai had forged for her when she had started hanging around her new mate. Next in line on the wall was her drawings of the old Sango and the new hanyou Sango. In front of that picture lay an authentic demon bone sword that Sango had made her while she was learning the weapon. She lay in front of this picture the slayers outfit that she had been given. She moved to the next picture down here was Miroku as both a human and a hanyou here there were sutras, an old set of jade prayer beads and the first staff that he had ever used. The next picture was of Kagura. In front of this picture there laid one of her fans with the metal spikes to attack the hair sticks she used in her hair. Here she placed the comb from Kagura. Next were the pictures of Shippou and Rin, in front of the pictures she placed the picture and bracelet. She moved then to the last picture on the wall. She looked at the picture with love and longing in her eyes. She felt that she was almost dying inside. She knew that the picture on the wall didn't do him justice but to simply look at the perfection that was her mate took all that she of reserve and control not to break down. She felt the warm salty tears start their track down her cheeks but she didn't care. Here she placed the two swords that she could only use to train with now. They deserved to be here with the armor that he had given to her. When she started to fight at his side. The set of clothes that she had pilfered from his room one night after she had been injured and found herself there. With the long strands of silver she had pulled from the brush in that same room, she longed to be with him but knew that the well was closed. She would have to wait and see if he had lived the five hundred years that separated them. She quickly dried her tears she had to move on, she had things that she had to do while she was left here in her own. She bowed to the picture and ran her hand along the beautiful fangs that he had given her and left the room sealing it again so that no other but herself could walk into the room.

"Fantomu, where are you?" she called out to the neko and soon found it wrapping itself around her feet she picked it up and went to the study. Once she was finished with her paper for the night she and the neko went to the kitchen and ate then went to bed for the night.

The next two weeks passed in much the same way. She would wake, get dressed, practice with the fangs and Fantomu, then take a bath, and work on her homework, then eat again, and sleep. Her sleep was tormented by the images of their one night of bliss but she didn't want to forget. She was almost halfway through the third week when she started feeling a little off. She knew that she could heal herself of almost anything so she went to the garden she had in the back yeard and started to meditate hoping to find the reason for the feeling that she was having that was the first time that she felt the second heartbeat echoing her own. She knew what that meant the instant that she felt the powerful aura that she now carried with her. She was carrying the heir of the west. She was going to have Sesshoumaru's child, it was a male. Tears of both sorrow and joy. Sorrow because he wasn't here to share this with her but joy because he was till with her in some fashion. She placed her hand where her child was growing. Love had brought this child into being and love was what she would give to him. all the love that she had in her heart would be given to the child that she was carrying. She knew what she would have to do to make sure that he child was born healthy, she had to leave her home and go to the store. Being in the feudal era for so long she had assisted in the birthing of both full demons, hanyou, and ningen so she knew what she was in for. She would have to find someone that she trusted to help her through the last stages at this but she knew how far along she was and knew that she had some time. The only thing that she could feel was blessed by the child that had been given a chance at a life within her. It was a small thing but she had a permanent fixture in her life now of the man that she had grown to love so much in the ten years that she had known him. she stood quickly and returned to the house once there she called to Fantomu, it was time to start taking care of Sesshoumaru's and her son, the right way.

 **Meanwhile in the past.**

Alone figure stood looking out across the distance, his long silver hair whipped around by the wind that seemed to call his name. he closed his burning gold eyes with the pain that laid buried in his core. He placed his hand on the pendant that Kagome had given to him. he longed for her more and more as time passed for him. he knew the day, the hour, the minute, and the second that she had been taken from him. he was busy trying to keep his lordship over the lands expanding his empire so that when the time came he could care for her and the child that they had created. He burned for the love that she carried for him in her heart. He held tight to the crystal and opened the tortured golden depths that ached for the sight no matter real or not of his love.

The illusion of her stood with her back to him for a moment granting him a view of her perfectly shaped legs and rear, then her thigh length hair the same magical black as the night that surrounded him. she turned slowly just as she would have done had she been here with him. her eyes full of love and devotion as he had known they would be. She had healed his heart so long ago but he hadn't told her or even acted on his love to make her his own. His heart ached for his own foolishness and the short time that he had left to them. Tears filled the normally cold and unfeeling eyes as he took at the illusion of his mate. The pain of her absence almost too much for his heart. He fell to his knees with only the illusion and the moon to see his fall into the pain that tortured his soul. His crystal tears fell to the black stone of his balcony. No one would ever know the pain he was in as the years passed he was strong he would survive the years that separated them and he would do it as he done everything in his life brilliantly, only at night would he shed the tears of pain that tortured his soul.


	5. Chapter Four

**Never Let Go**

 **Chapter Four**

" **Nothing down below but me, face the truth to realize all that we could be," Never Let Go By Josh Groban.**

Five weeks now that she had been without him. their child was healthy thanks to the things that she had learned in the feudal era. She was eating all the things that she and the baby needed. She surrounded it in the love that she felt for his father. She and Fantomu were doing good on their own but Kagome knew that staying at home finishing her school work wasn't doing her any good. She decided that today for the first time since she had come back that she would go to see her mother. She didn't relish the questions that she was bound to get but she knew that her mother was about the only person that she trusted with the information that she would have to tell her.

"Fantomu?"

"Yes, my lady?"

"It is time to leave again my pet." Kagome moved through the house giggling at the kitten.

"Where are we going lady Kagome?" the kitten asked as she leapt from the counter to Kagome's shoulder.

"Don't call me that, I am no lady here, my mate has yet to return to me. we are going to my mothers for the day. She should know about the change and her new grandson." Kagome sighed.

"You are the lady of the west no matter the era we are in. it is my honor to call you such lady Kagome but I will only call you that when we are alone, will that satisfy you?" they moved to the front door to leave the house.

"I guess, you knew that there will be pain for me by returning?"

"Yes my lady and I will do all that I can to help you and the pup that you carry can't take too much of it." She wrapped herself around Kagome's neck under the thick silken blanket of her ebony hair.

"That is all that I can ask of you. I want to see the well again I knew without a doubt that I will fall to the pain but for some reason I want to check it out you know?"

"I know Kagome," answered Fantomu as they walked through the city headed to the shrine.

It was still semi early in the morning which meant that they weren't many people on the streets. They moved quickly because the pollutants in the air hurt Kagome. The neko purred in Kagome's ear trying to help Kagome stay calm. They didn't leave the house often because Kagome didn't like the crowds anymore, not since she had found out that she was carrying Sesshoumaru's heir. Sooner than they thought they would have found themselves on the stairs of the shrine. Kagome took a deep breath and prepared herself for the upcoming argument and pain. She knew she had to do this but that didn't make it any easier for her. She moved up the stairs her posture that of a true lady of nobility. She made it to the top of the stairs, the barrier that protected the shrine might not let her in she would have to find out. She took the next step cautiously she didn't want to harm herself or her son. The barrier allowed her in with no problems, she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing but for now it was all right with her. There were things that she had to do here and she didn't really feel like trying to remove it then recast it so that she could get in. she walked to the house first. She had to get this over with. She didn't want the rejection from her mother because of the fact that she was pregnant by a man that her mother had never met, one that not only was five hundred years in the past but also a demon lord to boot. Her mother was never going to let this go she didn't even know why she was doing this. Her mother didn't know a thing about demonic child bearing. She let go of the sigh that she felt crawling its way up her throat. She pulled herself together and held herself proud then knocked on the door. She heard the footsteps in the house moving to the door that she waited in front of. She heard the steps top at the door. It opened but she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad one.

"You have decided to come see us?" asked her mother the hurt evident in her voice.

"If this isn't a good time I can come back late. I simply wanted to visit you before I had to start work at the university." She knew that her leaving the last time had hurt her mother but the pain she was going through wasn't something that her mother could have helped her through.

"Honestly Kagome, I don't know what to think, do, or say around you anymore." Her mother sighed.

"Very well then, I will do what I came to and leave you in peace." Kagome turned from the door.

"Kagome…"

"It is all right mother, I understand. I am only going to check the well then I will leave. You know how to reach me. I will be there off and on starting next week." Kagome knew that in all honesty if her mother was having a hard time now that it would be worse if her mother knew the truth.

"Kagome tell me something?"

"If I can, I will."

"What caused the pain that I found you in at the well?" her mother came outside and shut the door to the main house.

"The well closed."

"You mean that you can never go back?" there was hope in her voice.

"Yes mother, that is what that means,"

"So why are you going to check on it?"

"Closure." Kagome's voice sounded dead.

"Well I will leave you to it. If you want come into the house you are welcome but if not I understand."

"Thank you but I think I might head home I am tired. I haven't been sleeping well." Kagome finished the short walk to the well house.

"Kagome was it really that hard to leave them," her mother watched Kagome pause at the door to the well house. Kagome turned around and the look on her face told her mother the true depth of the pain that Kagome hid from the world.

"Harder than you will ever know." The sad answer came from Kagome lips as she entered the well house then shut and bolted the door, she then cast a sound proofing barrier around the well. She knew her mother had a habit of eavesdropping. She didn't want her mother to hear what it was that she was doing in here. She moved from the door to the rim of the well, then stared into the powerless depths. There was nothing for her here. She heaved a heart breaking sigh slowly the tears returned just as she had known that they would. Fantomu moved from her shoulder and took her larger form and wrapped Kagome in her warmth and comfort. Kagome's tears fell into the depths of the well, her claws dug into the wood, as the pain once again engulfed her.

 **IN THE PAST AT THE WELL**

He had stayed away from here as long as he could but today he felt drawn to the well that had taken his mate form him he didn't care what the others thought he knew the pain that lay hidden in his heart. Only he knew how many nights he had laid awake in his bed aching so much it hurt. He had stayed away hoping that if he did the truth wouldn't be true. He knew it was still he didn't want to be any where near the very thing that had cursed him to live in loneliness for five hundred years.

He knelt down next to the worn wood of the well knowing the whole time that Kagome couldn't return to him. it didn't take long for his own tears to fall into the dark lifeless depths of the well. He could almost smell her scent he could almost taste the salt of the tears that he knew she would be shedding somewhere as she waited for him. he looked into the dark depths of the well almost expecting to see her there, but all he found was a mist that seemed to look like her. His mind was playing tricks on him, cruel ones at that. He dug his claws into the wood and into his own hands the pain was slowly killing him. one thought went through his mind the whole time he stared at the weeping pained expression on his mates face. What had they done to deserve this? They could have been so happy here. Their lives complete. The larger family that he cared for at peace. There were so many things that they should have been but they now had to wait until the time was right to find out how truly happy they could be.

 **THE PRESENT IN THE WELL HOUSE**

As she looked into the darkness of the well she thought she saw the face of her mate staring back at her for a moment. The pain from those eyes almost killed her. Her sobs grew louder the shaking in her body more than before. It was too much she couldn't take it. She howled her pain into the depths of the well knowing that no one else had heard the aching of her heart. Fantomu held her tighter as she tried to calm her broken lady, she felt the pain too the pure desire to be with her lord but she knew that Kagome needed him more than ever before.

She began to purr to Kagome hoping that she would be able to calm her. The child didn't need the stress that Kagome was currently in. slowly Kagome began to calm and soon she was back to normal. Normal for Kagome wasn't normal anymore it was just forcing the pain back so that she could move forward and do her mate proud. Fantomu knew that Kagome's heart lye with Sesshoumaru and that Kagome wouldn't be at peace until he was with her again.

"My lady it is time to leave this place of pain."

"I know I just thought therefore a second that I saw him." Kagome sighed as she and the neko moved from the well.

"I don't know what to tell you, my lady." The neko was now small on Kagome's shoulder.

"I know Fantomu, it is time for us to return home there is nothing for me here." Kagome spoke as she walked out of the well house.

"I agree my lady, at home you are somewhat at peace. Answered the cat as they started back to Kagome's home.

 **IN THE AIR ABOVE THEM (MEANING KAGOME AND FANTOMU)**

He knew what had happened in the well house. The pain that he had felt form her so intense that he had to have help to stay in the air. He didn't want to stay away anymore, too much time had passed for the both of them. He looked at the group that had stayed at his side the whole time they knew that it was getting closer to the moment when they would be reunited. He nodded it was time to start bringing her back to them. They watched over her in silence as she made her way to her home. Once they reached the barrier they stopped they knew that it would allow them in but they didn't want to scare her so they simply watched her enter the house. As they turned to leave her knowing that she was safe he looked back and whispered, "Soon, my love, soon we will be together." With that he too left.

"You know your whipped right?" asked the brash male voice, the comment was followed by a solid sounding thump and an "ouch what was that for?"

"Not as whipped as you," came the voice of the first with laughter ringing in it as they too returned home.


	6. Chapter Five

**Never Let Go**

 **Chapter Five**

" **Torn apart by rage and fear, hold on to what brought you here, and don't let go, never let go." Never Let Go Bye Josh Groban.**

 **IN A MANSION IN THE MOUNTAINS**

The group sat in a circle to await his next words. They knew that he had waited for too long to have her at his side. They would do everything they could to make sure that this went smoothly. They had not seen a tear fall from his eye but knew that the pain that he had endured had been so much more than they had ever thought. He had done it because he loved her, now it was time for her to come home. The pain that they had both been through determined the need for a gentle touch with Kagome.

The tall man with long silver hair flowing over the back of his chair to the ground behind him, his golden eyes sharp, took in the others in front of him. he knew that they would do all that they could to return his lady to him. for so long he had wanted her by his side, his wishes were about to come true. Everything was ready all he had to do was convince her that he loved her and wanted her to be with him again. she thought that there was no youkai at this time, well, they would show her one couple at a time that there was. Next to the tall silver haired man on the right sat a twenty year old orange haired man, he had emerald eyes. His desire was as strong as his lords to have her return to them. Next was a raven haired man that was from his early twenties to his early thirties, his violet eyes held wisdom and understand in their depths as they glance over the group around them. Next to him was a younger silver haired man with what looked to be dog ears on his head, his eyes the same golden color of those of the man that kept them together over the years. Next to him was a woman with long black hair, with red eyes and jade earrings, though at one time their enemy she had been a great asset to them. Next to her another long female, her hair a deep brown. She also had what appeared to be dog ears on her head. Next to her another female, her long silver hair and golden eyes were almost an exact match to the man next to her. They all waited to see who would be the ones that would be sent to her first.

"You all know the reason for this gathering, five hundred years have past, we have all missed her, it is time to bring her home. Know this, she carried my child, I don't want her harmed in any way or it will be your life." Said that man that called the meaning.

"Tell us who you will send to her first." Came the voice of the red eyed woman.

"She needs someone who will start to heal the pain in her heart and someone who will protect her. You have all fought bravely to this point. She needs a gentle touch. I believe that the young ones should go to her first." He answered as he looked over the others.

"He can't fight his way out of a spider web." Retorted the other silver haired man.

"I can beat your ass though uncle." The orange haired youth next to the leader of the group.

"Whatever, I let you win." The younger silver haired man laughed.

"Enough you two, I can't see how I have dealt with you for so long. My son and daughter will be fine. We are all here if they need us. Now do you understand what it is that you two are to do?" The overpowering voice of the leader overtook the others.

"Yes father, and we are ready. When do you wish us to leave  
?"

"Tonight she will go to the store to replenish her food go there and meet her." Said the leader.

"we leave now father." Said the two as they left the room.

"Who goes next?" the red eyes female asked.

"You and your mate."

"Very well, we will prepare." Spoke the male with violent eyes.

"why did you leave us for last?" asked his brother.

"You are the ones who are to tell her how to find me."

"I see, then, now we shall leave you." She and the silver haired man left the room.

 **WITH KAGOME**

She left the house, food was getting scarce in the house and she knew that she didn't want to have to leave the house until she went to work at the university. Fantomu was under her hair, her steps were silent and quick, as she walked to the store. She was on the alert knowing full well that she carried a very powerful child. She entered the store and began picking up the things that she needed once she was finished she paid and left the store. She reentered the night air, the chill in the air made her want to get home quickly. She lowered her head and began the slight walk home.

"Excuse me, mai shukujo no uesutan riku,(my lady of the western lands) Kagome Higurashi, might we assist you with your purchases?" asked an elegant female voice.

"Who are you that knows who I am?" Kagome raised her head and snapped around to look at the woman who had dared to speak to her. The long silver hair reminded her painfully of the mate that she had lost. Next to the female with long straight flowing hair was an orange haired man with green eyes. The tall male looked a lot like her son from the past.

"Your children, lady Kagome." Said the female once again.

"I have none." Kagome answered locking back her tears. She did have two children but they were lost in the tides of time. She didn't want to be reminded of them, the pain was too much for her heart.

"You have two of them mom, look at us, see us for who we truly are." The male spoke in an understanding voice.

"No I am going home."

"Mother, you carry the heir to the west. Father misses you terribly, you must remember us." The elegant females voice was breaking as if in tears.

"How do you know that I carry a child?" Kagome demanded.

"Father told us." Answered the male as he held the crying female.

"who might I ask is your father children?"

"Taiyoukai Sesshoumaru, your mate mother." The silver haired female answered.

"Who?" Kagome was so shocked that she fell to the ground on her ass.

"You heard them sis," came a voice from behind Kagome.

"No, you are gone!" tears started to fall from her eyes.

"You know that I am not, we were sent to you to bring you home." The male came behind her with violet eyes, beside him stood a red eyed female.

"I am going home." She whimpered.

"No, you aren't mother, home is with us, it always has been." Shippou responded.

"This can't be!" her body shook with the sobs that tore her apart.

"You know it is my lady, come he is waiting for you." Kagura spoke gently.

"There is no way that this is real." Kagome was now broken.

"It is, you need to trust in us Kagome. Say our names make us real once again. five hundred years is too long for us and we need you to give us hope that all the fighting that we have done to make it to you in one piece wasn't in vain." Came Miroku's plea as he helped her stand.

"I can't," she answered.

"Why not Kag, you yourself are proof that things don't always make sense." Said a slightly rough voice from off to the side.

"I just don't understand where have you all been?"

"Preparing for you Kag. We had to make sure that you would have everything you would need." Inuyasha's voice rang in her ears.

"You know how things had to change Kagome, you were there in the past with us. We had to make sure that we had lives that would be compatible here. You must understand we were all waiting for the day that we would see you again." Sango came into view.

"I can't take this, it is too much. To think that you all survived the time that separated us, I can't take it. I have to go home. I need to rest." Her tears still falling her heart. Sore and aching for someone that she had convinced herself lost in the tides of time that had ripped them apart form each other. She took the first step and almost fell to the ground once again. "Fantomu, help me." she whispered. She wouldn't be able to make it to her home. Too much stress the pain of missing him so much that she could barely stand on her own.

The three tailed black cat moved from her shoulders to the ground beside her and grew to the size of a Shetland pony and wrapped Kagome in her long fluffy black tails. The pain that Kagome was in was not good for the pup that she carried. Kagome turned and buried her face in the warmth of the car who was the only one that she really trusted in that moment of pain. She couldn't look at them she was sure that her mind was simply playing tricks on her. Unconsciously her hand reached up to the ruby crystal around her neck. The feeling of love washed over her, soothing her, calming her. Granted she love those around her but she only wanted him, her mate, her love. She felt it then, a slight caress of power one that she hadn't felt since that last night in the feudal era, she clung to it pulling it to her. She felt it embrace her as he had done the last day, could it be that these were really the same people that she had known in the past? She lost herself in that simple embrace of power. She needed to see him, to feel him. she only wanted him the link between them tattered by the pain that they had both felt in their time apart from each. She didn't move she didn't want to wake up from the dream that she had. She could feel him so close to her, she raised her head from the cats neck, her eyes tightly closed tears still flowing from her tortured heart. She turned blindly into the arms that she wished were his. She felt them wrap around her tightly holding her close to the warmth, strength and scent that she had missed. She felt or imagined his head leaning down to her ear and heard his silken voice whisper, "It is all right my love, I am here and I am not leave you again."

"Don't let go, never let go." She sobbed into his chest.


	7. Chapter Six

**Never Let Go**

 **Chapter Six**

" **Turn your head up to the sky, nothing down below, don't let go." Never Let Go By Josh Groban.**

He held his greatest treasure in his arms for the first time in five hundred years. All the pain of those lonely nights on his balcony vaporized in the warmth of her love. The emptiness that had almost ripped him apart filled by the beating of her wounded heart. The scent he had scoured the earth for that belonged to her aloe filled him with peace that he thought lost to him. he hadn't meant to make her wait for him but he had to make sure that everything was perfect.

Unknown to her every step of her life had his hand in it somehow. The reason her mother had the money to hold the shrine, the reason that she got accepted into the university, the scholarships that she had received, the house that she owned, all of it had his touch on it but she didn't know it. He didn't want her to there were no reasons for her to. All he had ever wanted was her happiness, he didn't want her pain. All of the years that she had traveled with his brother it had taken all of his immense control not to strangle the brother that new that they had created that night five hundred years ago for hi. The child moved at the touch of his power. It knew him as father. Kagome had done well with his son just as he had known that she would even if he didn't make it the years to her. He held her as he had longed to do for so long, the others knew that he would do anything that he could to make sure that she was happy and right now it was his love that she needed and she would get it.

"Is this real? Are you here Maru? Are you the one holding me? am I dreaming?"

"Yes Kag, I am here, this is real. I am the one holding you. You are not dreaming my love. Open your beautiful eyes and look at me I have waited so long to hold you." His voice was low in her ear.

Her delicate face turned up from his chest to set her eyes so deep and pure into his own. In that moment time stopped, the world quit turning the moon shone brighter on the two of them. Silence reigned around them, only the two of them existed in the world around them. Their hearts beating as one, their love filling the other with peace that they had thought lost to them. They were whole now, the link that had been tattered almost broken was once again back and stronger than before. Blue of the ocean depths stared into the burning gold of the sun, passion, love, and peace in their gaze. The loneliness and pain vanished. They were together and the time they had been apart had not dulled the double edge blade of their love and passion.

"Why did you wait?" behind Sesshoumaru she turned the ring that he had given to her. He had come to her in his full demon appearance, she could only do the same thing for him.

"I wanted you to finish school, I was hoping that you would know about the new life within you and not be angered that I didn't tell you when it happened."

"I found out almost a month ago about your child my love, it was the only tangible connection that I had with you, I wasn't mad. I wanted to share my joy with you." She smiled at him.

"Kag it is our child and we will share the joy of his birth. I knew that you would love our child, I just didn't know how you would feel about the fact that I didn't tell you when it happened." He slid his silver clawed hand up her back to cup the back of her neck.

"I liked the fact that I found out after I had left, it gave me something to hang onto. I am not mad about it Sesshoumaru. I just didn't know if you survived the time that we have been apart."

"Nothing would keep me from you Kagome, It was so hard to stay away from you while you dealt with the baka over there. So many times in these past twenty five years he has found himself at the receiving end of my poison claws all because of you, my mate. He never once argued with me in the five hundred years that we have been living under the same roof. He made sure that I remember all that you stood for. The Westland's owe the two of you a great deal of thanks for the way that they are ran today."

"You mean the whole country." Inuyasha laughed as he moved to stand at their side.

"We now control all of Japan?" Kagome was frightened.

"Well all the youkai that live here yes." Sesshoumaru stated.

"How can we be standing here with all of the humans around and still not be seen?" questioned Kagome.

"that is thanks to your nieces and nephews." Miroku spoke in.

"Nieces and nephews?" Kagome turned in Sesshoumaru's embrace to look at the others.

"Our children," Sango moved to stand beside Inuyasha.

"You mean they are holding a barrier to protect us?" Kagome had a guilty feeling come over her.

"No, because of our children we placed a spell on the island it took us almost a hundred years to get it right but now we can be ourselves and no one is any the wiser. If we travel to other countries we have special charms like your ring to hide us but when we are here we don't need it." Kagura stood beside Miroku.

"So I don't have to hide anymore?" Kagome looked to the silent couple standing behind the others.

"No you don't," answered Sango as she moved pulling Inuyasha with her so that Kagome could see her children.

"Rin, Shippou, you really are my children from the past?" Kagome walked to them free from Sesshoumaru's embrace.

Maru knew that she had hurt the children that he raised, but that she didn't mean to. She loved them but that for them to simply appear at her side had thrown her a curve that she didn't know what to do with. Rin was having a hard time looking at her because of her denial of them. Shippou was comforting his sister but was torn. He had been warned long ago that their mother might not know them when they found her. He didn't want his mother to think that he didn't understand but at the same time it was his job to take care of Rin and right now Rin needed him but so did his mother, Sesshoumaru moved to stand with his mate in front of his children.

"Rin," his deep voice called to his daughter.

"Yes father," answered Rin her eyes on the ground in front of her feet, her long silver hair hiding her eyes from her parents.

"Do you remember the talk that you and I had about twenty five years ago?" asked Sesshoumaru.

"Yes, father." Answered Rin.

"what did I tell you then?" he asked her putting a clawed finger under her chin forcing her to look at his understanding golden eyes.

"That mother would have a hard time knowing who we were because who have grown since the last time that she saw us," Rin's voice was a whisper.

"My daughter, I wasn't lying to you. Five hundred years you have had to grow and change. Your mother on the other hand has only been away from us for what to her was only about two months. She hasn't changed but you have." Sesshoumaru was looking deep into his daughters eyes.

"You mean that she is the same as she was the day she left us?" comprehension finally slammed home for her.

"That is exactly what I mean Rin." Maru moved from in front of his daughter.

"Mother?" Rin took in the black inuyoukai in front of her.

"Rin, what is it," Kagome was slightly confused.

"Might I have a hug?"

"Why ask you never have before?"

"You carry my little brother." Rin smiled.

"I am not fragile that I know of," Kagome giggled.

"Don't run at her!" warned Sesshoumaru.

"We won't father." The children answered as they ran to her and gently embraced their long missing mother. Rin held her first crying in her hair apologizing for acting the way that she did. Kagome soothed her as much as she could telling her that it was all right, that everything was fine. Once Rin was fine Shippou walked up to his mother he had missed her so much in the years that he had to live without her. He picked her up in the air, startling her, making her laugh as he spun her around in the air. The laughter of Kagome was infectious and soon they were all laughing with her. Shippou looked to his father and smiled Maru knew that the kit was up to something, he then watched his mate get tossed into the air only to fall into his out stretched arms. Maru looked at Shippou, growling lightly.

"You always told me that you thought of her as an angel that fell from the sky, well now she is and you are the one that caught her." Shippou laughed.

"I might have said that but there was no reason to take a chance in hurting her." Sesshoumaru warned.

"Maru can we go home?"

"Yes Kag, it is time to go home." He looked into the eyes that held his heart and soul, the desire that he found there humbled him. he took to the air, flying like the wind to his palace in the mountains.

All through the night they loved each other knowing that they had all the time in the world now. Every time that Kagome and Maru succumbed to the lure of sleep they each told the other of their love.

"I love you Maru. Don't let go of me."

"I love you too Kag, don't worry I will never let go."

SHIMEKIRI


End file.
